9/11: How NYC, nation will observe 18th anniversary

New York and the nation on Wednesday will stop to remember the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum will be the site for the annual name-reading ceremony, starting at approximately 8:39 a.m. and continuing until approximately 12:30 p.m.

During the memorial, all 2,983 men, women and children who died in the 2001 attacks will have their names read, as has been tradition for the past several years.

Attendance is only open to victims’ families, although video of the ceremony can be streamed online.

Six moments of silence are planned during the ceremony: two for the moment the planes struck each tower, two for the times each tower fell, one for the moment the Pentagon was hit and another for the moment United Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

This year’s ceremony will be the first at which a new memorial will line the outside of the World Trade Center.

This spring, six granite slabs were installed in the memorial plaza, designed to honor firefighters, police officers and others who died from exposure to toxins after the attacks. As there is no finite list of those who died in the aftermath, the slabs will remain nameless.

Meanwhile, the annual Flight 93 National Memorial Commemorative Service will be held in Shanksville. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend, after an event in Johnstown, Pa.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to participate in the Pentagon Observance Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, and will hold a moment of silence at the White House.

Back in New York, the Tribute in Light will return for another year. The lights at West and Morris streets will turn on at sunset on September 11, and will remain illuminated until dawn on September 12.